Retro Spins: Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - Against The Wind

Okay, I'm going to try and go into this objectively. Bob Seger has never been one of my favorite artists, and admittedly, I only bought his 80's discography because I felt like I had to for completion's sake. I'm not a fan of his gravelly voice, nor heartland rock music style. I equate him among the likes of Michael McDonald, and Eric Clapton, two artists who are extremely popular, yet I can't for the life of me figure out why.

Because of his long-storied history, and also because I simply don't care, I'm not going to deep dive into the artist's roots, nor formation of his band, The Silver Bullet, his solo years, or original band, The System. Instead, I'll break it down as such:

Bob Seger started his recording career as The Bob Seger System. Together, they released three albums between 1969 to 1970. Seger went solo thereafter and released five albums between 1971 and 1975. While he would then form the Silver Bullet Band, and release seven albums between 1976 and 1995, he'd decide to take a long break to focus on family, and in general, just enjoying life. He returned to a solo career in 2006 and has released three albums through 2017.

Undoubtedly, his time with the Silver Bullet was his most lucrative, both financially, and hit wise. With exception of their final release, It's A Mystery (1995) which went gold, all previous albums since 1976 have been certified platinum, and in case of the first three, multi-platinum.

The fruits of his labor have also garnered him over thirty songs which have landed on the Billboard Hot 100. His most successful being his contribution to the 1987 soundtrack for Beverly Hills Cop II, Shake Down, which became his only number one hit. Focusing strictly on today's Retro Spin of Against The Wind, this produced four hits, The Horizontal Bop (42), You'll Accomp'ny Me (14), Against The Wind (5), and Fire Lake (6).

Horizontal almost sounds like a rocking sixties song. What immediately comes to mind is Johnny B. Good, followed by the sounds of Shanana from Grease. Just a classic jukebox sound, I suppose is the best way to sum it up. It's pretty good and leaves me hoping that more of that will come with the remaining tracks.

From there, things flip flop between the typical Bob Seger sound of storytelling, and edgier rock. It's not a bad thing, but I do far prefer tracks like Her Strut, which punch harder with his raspy voice and slick rhythm guitars.

Overall, the album was okay. I didn't hear things I didn't like, and of course I nabbed up the title track for my shuffle list. I suppose at the end of the day I have an appreciation for both his heartland rock style, which takes me back in my mind to a classic time, but also his storytelling ability. While I prefer the harder rocking sound, I do have to admit that storytelling is definitely a strongpoint of Seger. These songs paint vivid pictures which take you from start to finish, and in that right, kind of have more of a purpose than your average tune.

I can endorse digging in further to his 80's albums, and dare I say, even look forward to it a bit. I'll be doing just that with his 1982 follow-up, The Distance.

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